


Strings of Fate

by alphabot



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Multi, Red String of Fate, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-02-24 09:13:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13210617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphabot/pseuds/alphabot
Summary: When Yixing finds his soulmate, Chanyeol, he doesn’t expect to find him in a nice relationship with his own soulmate, Sehun. Chanyeol has two red strings. Sehun and Yixing have only one each.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally intended to fulfill prompt 50 from EXOT3+, but I never finished after the mods went silent after the first check in and stopped responding to my requests for clarification.
> 
> In my unfinished file, the first line of text said: "I told myself to keep it simple, just to write the 'highlights'. And then this happened, a monster of a fic with plotlines for everyone." So to the prompter, I'm sorry it never got done on time. But at least now I can do it properly and give you more than just the highlights, even if it takes me forever.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. The plan had been to get Kyungsoo’s mind off of his fight with Joonmyun, let him blow off some steam and calm down. He wasn’t supposed to get three sheets to the wind. The boy was so far gone that the poor guy looked like he couldn’t decide whether to pass out or throw up everything he’d consumed that evening.

If they had been at their usual bar it wouldn’t have been as big an issue. Still a problem, just not as big of one. But Joonmyun knew their usual haunt. Plus, he had been just as upset as Kyungsoo. The possibility that Joonmyun would hunt them down and let slip the fact that Kyungsoo wasn’t in fact of legal drinking age wasn’t a chance that Yixing wanted to take. So what if Kyungsoo had a fake ID, he’d raised the kid himself and knew very well that he was more than capable of holding his liquor. At least, he was usually more than capable. Current circumstances were beginning to make Yixing believe otherwise, reminded him that Kyungsoo was only nineteen, still very much a teenager.

Since they weren't at their usual bar they weren't regulars. As such, the bartender at this establishment had not been willing to open up a tab for them. Having flown through his own stash of cash, Kyungsoo had wormed his way into Yixing’s pocket to access Yixing’s credit cards. It was this act that was the most probable cause of their current predicament. Kyungsoo had had enough to drink and it was time to go home. Except now Yixing couldn’t seem to find his keys anywhere. Kyungsoo must have inadvertently lost them when lifting Yixing’s wallet out. Or maybe it had been intentional, who knows what the drunk boy had been thinking earlier.

Yixing himself is buzzed, but only a little. Alcohol doesn’t affect him the same way that it does others. His tolerance is higher, a lot higher. But it does have the nice effect of blurring the constant criss crossings of red that usually flood his vision. Maybe he should do this more often. It’s been forever since he’d drank enough for it to happen. But he’s getting off track, he needs to figure out how to get home, or at least someplace else besides this bar.

He could call a few people, but the only one who he’d feel even remotely comfortable calling upon to pick him and Kyungsoo up would be Joonmyun. But considering he was the reason they were out here in the first place that wouldn’t be the best idea. Besides, Joonmyun would turn his anger towards Yixing for letting Kyungsoo get this way in the first place. Better to leave him alone and face him some other time.

That left someone from Kyungsoo’s phone. Kyungsoo didn’t have very many friends either. He was a quiet boy and didn’t make friends easily. It took a lot to breach the walls he’d constructed around his heart and most people didn’t bother to take the time to do so. Maybe Yixing should have pushed him to go out more when he was growing up.

The low battery notification on Kyungsoo’s phone went off, because as if the cards weren’t stacked against them enough this evening, the fates were making sure that Yixing would only have one time for one call. It raised the stakes, in some twisted and wholly unfair way that would be funny when retelling tonight’s events some time in the future. But right now, it just annoyed Yixing. He scrolled through Kyungsoo’s contacts, hoping that someone’s name would be familiar.

Amber? No, she was away on the semester abroad. Maybe Minho? No, Yixing didn’t like the way the tall athlete looked at Kyungsoo. He wouldn’t trust Minho with a drunk Kyungsoo in broad daylight. Maybe he should look at Kyungsoo’s recent call list. That would be better, wouldn’t it?

Except it wasn’t. The only people Kyungsoo seemed to call was Yixing and Joonmyun. And Yixing’s father. But Yixing definitely wasn’t going to be calling him tonight. Maybe his texts would provide a better list of candidates.

The top two people were again Yixing and Joonmyun. But third on his most recently contacted list was Chanyeol.

Chanyeol had been Kyungsoo’s partner for one of his projects for college. He’d never met him. Yixing had always had to work when he’d come over to the apartment to work on their project. He’d hoped Kyungsoo would open up to him, but that hadn’t panned out. If Yixing remembered correctly, Kyungsoo thought Chanyeol too...how did he put it? Too loud and touchy-feely. Yixing thought that just meant the guy had a big heart, and he hoped he was right about that because Kyungsoo’s phone just dipped down to 3%. It was now or never.

Yixing hit the button to make the call. “Hello, is this Chanyeol? My name is Yixing, I’m a friend of Kyungsoo. I know it’s late, but I have a really big favor to ask you.”

A strange feeling settled over Yixing as he made the call. He should have known what it was. He wasn’t drunk, barely even buzzed. But it’d been so long since he’d been involved with the whims of the gods that he didn’t recognize their hand at work in the events unfolding. He knows that that it wouldn’t have mattered if he had anyway. It wouldn’t have changed a thing, for whatsoever the fates decreed would come to pass.

No matter what.

-

Yixing wakes up the next morning nestled in the warmth of Chanyeol’s arms. His body aches a little, but that’s to be expected with how events had played out. Chanyeol had come to pick him and Kyungsoo up, a little annoyed at having to play knight and shining armor to a classmate that thought of him as a “puppy dog begging for ear scratches”. There was something about the way Chanyeol had said those words that told Yixing he was quoting Kyungsoo directly.

The moment that Yixing and Chanyeol’s eyes had met through the open window of his car, everything changed. The haze of red didn’t shift back into solid lines, but one single red string did. It sharpened just enough so that there could be no doubt who it binds together. It was the moment that Yixing had been waiting his whole life for. The moment he’d find the person at the other end of his red string.

Call him fast and call him easy, but he’d been waiting for centuries for this moment. He’d almost given up hope of it happening, he’d gone so long without a red string tied to his finger. But then a month or so ago he’d woken up and there it was, a reminder that there was someone out there for him. Someone apparently named Chanyeol. He didn’t even hesitate one second, didn’t stop to think about his actions, didn’t stop to wonder about the effects of falling in love at first sight. This was his soulmate, the one he was fated to love and be loved by in return. They’d have the rest of their lives to figure everything else out.

Kyungsoo had finally decided to pass out on the drive to Chanyeol’s apartment. It took only a few minutes to deposit his sleeping form onto Chanyeol’s couch. Then Yixing had pushed Chanyeol into his bedroom and onto his bed. Yixing gave himself over to Chanyeol without a second thought, and Chanyeol took him like he was the very air that Chanyeol needed to survive.

It was hot and passionate, just the memory of it makes Yixing blush a little. He curled in on himself a bit, only serving to bury himself just a bit more into Chanyeol’s side. The action seemed to wake him, for Chanyeol stirs. He has the worst case of bed hair, but Yixing knows that his own probably looks no better. Besides, Chanyeol still looks perfect, he still looks like something out of a dream.

“Hello,” Chanyeol says. His naturally deep baritone is a few notes lower than it was last night.

“Hi,” Yixing says back. In his head he’d meant it to be just as sexy as Chanyeol’s greeting had been. But his voice fails him a bit as it’s wont to do in the morning and it comes out as more of a whisper.

Chanyeol rolls over a bit to cage in Yixing on his back. “It’s really you,” he says, almost like he can’t quite believe it. He brings up his left hand to brush the hair from Yixing’s face and Yixing catches a glimpse of the red string tied to his ring finger. Now that he’s burned off his buzz of alcohol, it’s completely in focus again. But there’s something about it that makes Yixing frown. Something was off, and it takes him a few moments to figure it out, moments that Chanyeol takes advantage of by bending down to press gentle kisses onto Yixing’s lips.

Yixing could have sworn that Chanyeol’s end of their red string was tied onto his right hand. Yixing’s was tied to his left, and he’s vaguely aware of liking how they looked when Chanyeol had held his hand as they made love last night. He thinks back to the countless other red strings he’s seen over the years, he’s pretty sure he’s never seen one switch hands before. Once a red string was tied it was immoveable, untieable only by Yue Lao himself.

Yixing gets his answer to the puzzle mere seconds later. The sound of footsteps announce the presence of someone outside in the hallway, and then a voice calls out. “Hey Chanyeol, why is your buddy from school sleeping on our couch?”

Chanyeol eyes grow wide, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car racing towards it. He scampers off of Yixing so fast he almost falls off the bed before he catches himself. He quickly pulls the sheet up to cover himself, bringing both of his hands into view. And Yixing’s world seems to come to an end.

The door to the bedroom opens and a boy with blond hair and whose height must reach almost as high as Chanyeol walks in. “Are you still sleep-”

The newcomer stops short, not even finishing his sentence. His face is full of shock, and then it falls into one of pair and sorrow. “Yeol,” he says. “What’s going on.”

“Sehun, I can explain.” says Chanyeol.

But Yixing beats him to it. “You have two,” he says. Chanyeol and the other guy, Chanyeol had called him Sehun, turned to look at Yixing. “You have two red strings.”

It can’t be denied. Even if Sehun can’t see it, Chanyeol and Yixing can. He’d been right when he’d thought that Chanyeol’s red string was on his right hand, because the string that bound him and Chanyeol together was in fact tied to the ring finger of his right hand. But there was also a red string tied to the ring finger of his left hand, a red string that led straight to Sehun.

Chanyeol lets out a whimper, “You can see them both?” he says to Yixing.

But Yixing doesn’t get the chance to answer him. Sehun cuts him off before he can do so. “Both? You have two?” he says. “Fifteen years and you never said anything, not even a hint.”

The number triggers something in Yixing. Chanyeol and Sehun have been together for fifteen years, which can only mean that they've had their red string since they were mere children. That’s exactly how Yixing has always wanted to find his soulmate, but that’s not what the fates had decided for him. The realization that his soulmate had what he had been denied, albeit with someone else, hurts.

Yixing does the only thing he can think of in that moment. He runs. He barely has the presence of mind to pick up some clothes from the floor and pull them on as he stumbles his way to the door and runs away. Chanyeol only has enough time to pull on his jeans before he runs after him. “Yixing wait!” he yells out.

But Yixing does no such thing. Instead he runs off down the unfamiliar streets of Chanyeol’s neighborhood. He doesn’t know where he’s going, he’s just needs to be anywhere but there. He dimly hears Chanyeol shouting for Sehun to wait too. The guy must be running too, he just hopes he’s running away as well instead of chasing after him. Yixing runs and runs until he feels like his lungs are about to burst from exhaustion. He finds the stoop of some apartment building and practically collapses onto it. He bends his head low between his knees to keep from passing out, focusing his vision on his aching bare feet as he tells himself to inhale, to exhale, to inhale and exhale.

Yixing has dreamed of finding the much awaited red string that connects him to someone else. He’s imagined it a hundred different ways in a thousand different fantasies. But never once has he imagined this. He never thought he’d find him in a nice relationship with his own soulmate.

Chanyeol has two red strings, while Sehun and Yixing have only one each.

-

Red strings are a funny thing. The way they connect a person to somebody else. The way that they tie together two souls, bringing together two separate lives and making them one.

The string is an amazing little thing. So small and thin, it appears as if it would be something that is easy to break. Yet it's not. Sure it may stretch or sometimes tangle, it may even seem to unravel at times, or seem like it will never appear. No one knows when they’ll get their string, not the hour not the place. But once tied, there is no power on heaven or earth that can tear such a bond apart. No matter the distance, no matter the hardships, no matter the circumstances, two souls tied together will meet. And when that happens, love happens.

Yixing would know, he has seen it over and over again. He’s seen it countless times over the course of his life. He’s seen the innocence of first meetings between two teenagers not even old enough to know what love really is. He’s seen the bitterness of two old souls melt away upon finally meeting after waiting their whole lifetimes. He’s even witnessed the confusion of two people in different phases in the lives being tied together. But by far his favorite is watching two souls meeting when they are still yet young, so young that they’ll never remember a time that their fingers were not adorned with a string. It is a wonderful thing, watching them. They don't just fall in love, but grow up and old together, their love laced into every fiber of their being.

That is the type of love that Yixing thought he should have. The kind that would always be with him, even beyond his death. But the fates did not choose such a destiny for him. He would even go so far to say they were cruel, for unlike most, he could see the criss-crossings of strings tied onto the fingers of others. Others did not have to suffer such a curse. Most people would only ever see the one string tied to their own hand, only able to see one string stretching out towards their soulmate before it faded after some twenty meters. If the one fate chose to tie them to was close enough, they’d be able to see their string lead them to him or her.

But Yixing was not most people. Yixing saw red strings everywhere. He saw them tied to the hands of others and stretched out in every direction, but never his own hand. Not once in his nearly one thousand years of living. You see, Yixing is not like most people on this earth. Yixing is a demigod.

His mother was a mortal human, and his father an immortal god. And not just any god. His father is the one who ties such red strings of fate. Yue Lao people called him, but Yixing knew him by his real name, Minseok. His own father was the very one who tied the countless stings Yixing could see, but he had never tied one upon his own son’s hand. But it was not his father’s fault, for Minseok did not decide whom to bind together. That was the decision of the fates. And for some reason, they had decided not to tie him to someone.

In his younger years, Yixing had cursed and taken out his anger at them. Why would they see fit to hold back a soulmate for him? But one can only do that for so long, and when one lived as long as Yixing had, letting go of the things you cannot change was a lesson that you learned eventually. The Lord of Time stopped his wheel for no one, and so there was much that Yixing would learn to let go.

He watched his mother grow old while he yet remained young and healthy. He was never sick, and if he was ever hurt he healed quickly with an unnatural ability. He wasn't exactly immortal, for he could and would eventually die, but the divinity that flowed through his father's veins kept him stuck in the body of a young man in his mid twenties. His mother lived a full and long life. But like all things mortal on this earth, her time came to an end.

Maybe that was the first time that Yixing had entertained the fact that maybe being not having a red string was actually a blessing. It was heartbreaking in a way, to watch his father continue on as if nothing had happened. But then again, his parents had not shared a red string, so he supposed that was to be expected. Maybe it was better that he wasn't tied to someone. Because then he wouldn't have to lose them, to live on without them.

But the heart wants what the heart wants. And deep down inside, even if he'd deny it, Yixing yearned for the day that his father came to visit him and tied a red string on his finger.

And now that it had happened, now that he’d found his soulmate, Yixing wanted nothing more than for it to have never happened in the first place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm supposed to be working on something else. But writer's block is very real, so thought I'd fish this out and polish it up. It's the last bit I have pre-written. Enjoy.

_18 Years Previous_  
Yixing slowed to a stop in front of the mansion and placed his silver Maserati in park. It had been ages since he was last here, at least a decade. Climbing out of the driver’s seat, he took in the view of the sprawling estate the mansion was on. Yuezhou was by far his favorite among all of his father’s various properties. He wondered why he’d taken so long to return. Heaven knew it was the most welcoming of all of them.

“Place still looks the same,” said Joonmyun, his best friend, as he gently shut the passenger door.

Yixing gave a sound of agreement. Yuezhou still looked spectacular. He used to return to this place every year, staying for months at a time. The locals who lived in the city a half-hour’s drive away were well acquainted with the legend of the boys who stopped aging, and never once questioned Yixing or his father about their ever youthful appearances. They didn't ask, and the fields around them stayed bountiful. Superstitious as it was, Yixing knew that such an agreement may very likely have been arranged. His father was a common deity to turn to in times of need, even other gods found themselves owing him favors.

The last time he'd been here he'd had a falling out with his father. He’d stormed out of the house, not even stopping to say goodbye to the servants who kept the place ever ready and open for them. And now he was back, thanks to the meddling hand of the fates themselves.

“Yixing,” said a familiar voice.

He turned and found himself looking at a woman holding one of the French doors open, a baby perched on her hip. 

“Eugene,” he said back, a fond smile on his face.

She looked older than he remembered. But then again, ten years would do that to a person. Last time he'd seen Eugene she'd been fresh out of her teenage years. In the time since she'd become an beautiful and elegant lady, and not the for the first time he'd found himself wondering what-ifs about a life tied to her. But the gods had other plans for her. The child on her hip was a testament to that.

He quickly crossed over to pull her into a tight embrace. “I've missed you,” he said. He let her go all too quickly, mindful of the little one in her arms.

“I'm sure you did,” she said back. Her words could have been cold, but the smile on her face said she was sincere. At least for the moment there were no hard feelings about his prolonged absence. She turned to Joonmyun. “Joonmyun, always a pleasure.”

“Likewise,” he said.

“Who is this little guy?” Yixing asked, cradling the young boy’s head. He was in that in between stage when you didn't know whether to call him an infant or a toddler.

“This is Kyungsoo,” she said, turning a bit so that Yixing would fall in the boy’s line of sight.

Seeing an unfamiliar face, Kyungsoo blinked a few times. He focused on Yixing’s dimpled smile. “Hey Buddy, my name’s Yixing. Nice to meet you.”

Kyungsoo gave him a gummy smile and Eugene laughed. “He must like you,” she said. “Kyungsoo doesn't smile for anyone, not even your father.”

His father, the reason he was here. Yixing’s dimples disappeared, but he kept the smile on his face for Kyungsoo’s sake. The little one had done nothing wrong and he didn't want to dampen his happy mood.

Last week, Yixing had been fortunate enough to run into one of the fates. He'd only met him once before, a long time ago. His mother had still been alive then. He had dropped in unannounced for for dinner and Yixing had demanded to know why he hadn't given him a red string of his own.

“I do not answer to the likes of you, half-breed,” had been his response. Yixing hadn't stayed for dessert.

Now, almost a millennium later, he'd appeared before Yixing and handed him a cloth-wrapped bundle, asking him to deliver it to his father as if he were a messenger boy. Before Yixing could even reply he was gone.

He hadn't wanted to, the thought of having to return home after so long had been a bit worrying. But one did not say no to the gods, at least not if one wanted to live to see the next sunrise. As tempting as an early death may have sounded, Yixing did not have a death wish. So here he was, back at Yuezhou, serving as his delivery boy.

“Is he here?” Yixing asked. His father could be at any one of his properties spread out across the globe. But his father shared the same welcoming feelings about Yuezhou that Yixing had so it was the most logical place to start looking.

“Just got in last night,” Eugene said. “He's out in the city with Tae Young at the moment. They should be back in time for dinner. Will you two be joining us?”

A decade ago that would not have even been a question. It made Yixing a little sad that she'd felt the need to ask such a thing. But times had changed. “Yes,” he answered. “Dinner sounds lovely. Along with a few days rest.” He didn't want to commit to anything more, not until he saw how things played out with his father.

-

Turns out he needn't have worried. Dinner was a wonderful experience, the conversation kept safety within the realm of Eugene’s activities the past decade. She'd left the manor and gone away for college. It was there that she'd met her husband, Tae Young, but the burden of keeping secret her family’s generations-long employment to Minseok had led to a misunderstanding between them and she’d returned home alone. The day after she arrived, she woke up to find her red string. She never sought out who might be on the other end. She couldn't imagine loving anyone as much as Tae Young, she figured whoever was at the other end of her string would never measure up.

It would take five years and an almost marriage later on Tae Young’s part before he’d follow his own red string back to Yuezhou where Eugene was waiting.

“You waited until a month before he was going to be married before tying his end of the string?” Joonmyun asked. He couldn't believe that such long intervals between two people receiving their strings was common. But being able to see them, Yixing knew that it was, more so than not.

Minseok shrugged his shoulders. “I tie them as the book instructs.”

Oh yes, the book. That was the reason Yixing was back here, to deliver the latest version of the book. But why ruin a relatively good evening? That could wait till after dinner.

-

Early the next morning, Minseok stood at the edge of loft, cup of coffee in hand, gazing down to watch his son outside on the patio. He sat in a wooden rocking chair feeding Kyungsoo his morning bottle. Eugene was taking advantage of another person’s presence to get a head start on cleaning. He really should hire more people, Yuezhou was almost too big a place for two people to handle. But that would mean finding outsiders, people who didn’t already know Minseok and Yixing’s secret. It wasn’t impossible, just not something Minseok wanted to to. If it came down it, he’d sell off a few other properties and bring their staff here to Yuezhou. This, out of all of his homes, was the one he’d never part with.

Minseok had been surprised to return home from the the city to find his son back home. He could be stubborn boy - yes, Yixing may well have been almost 1000 years old but he’d always be a boy in the god’s eyes - so something must have happened to bring him home. Joonmyun’s presence hadn’t been too surprising. He was also a demigod, the son of Changmin, a god of warfare. The boy had a protective streak as wide as the year is long. There weren’t very many demigod’s running around anymore, so those that were still alive tended to stick together, make friendships that lasted their extended lifetimes.

Yixing must have felt the need for backup, someone he could count on to rescue him, as it were, if he needed it. It hurt Minseok a bit that his son had felt the need to call for backup. But then again, their relationship had been deteriorating for last century or so. So what could possibly bring his son back around?

Fortunately, he hadn’t had to wait too long for the answer. Yixing had spent all night playing with Kyungsoo, refusing to even let Joonmyun have a turn with him. When he’d finally tired out the toddler and handed him over to his parents to lay him down for the evening, Yixing had found Minseok in his study and presented him with a small bundle of cloth.

He’d known immediately what it was. It was the book that told him who to bind together. Times may have changed, but the book was always delivered in the same manner, covered with the same red silk with flowing characters embroidered into it. Even when scrolls had been more common than bound books, Chen had taken the time to bind one himself instead of sending a scroll. 

He'd been expecting one sooner or later. He had finished one a year ago and was already halfway through the his other. There was always two or three books in play at any given time, sometimes four. He'd gotten antsy with only one. But Chen didn't need his son playing delivery boy. He was more than capable of delivering it himself.

As if proving his thoughts true, Minseok felt the shimmer of air that told him another god had stepped out of the void and into this plane. He turned his head to look. Sure enough, there stood the fate responsible for deciding who to tie together. “Chen,” he said in greeting.

The god smiled his catlike grin and waved his hand in the air dismissively. “I haven't used that name in a century. I’m back to Jongdae now.”

“Back to the name of your birth,” Minseok commented. It was common for gods to adopt a nickname of sorts for a period of time. It was one way to keep things fresh through the years. 

Jongdae shrugged. “We all go back to them eventually. Although you, my friend, are rather attached to yours. You barely acknowledge Yue Lao, the name that mortals gave you. And you only used Xumin for a century.”

Minseok thought he was was probably right, but he decided not to acknowledge the comment. Give the fate an inch and he’d take a whole estate from you. He simply shrugged and turned back to look at his son. Joonmyun had finally decided to wake up and join the land of the living. He was still in his pajamas, hair all tousled from bed, a cup of coffee in his hands. He settled down next to Yixing in a second rocking chair.

“Did you get my package?” asked Jongdae.

“I did,” he answered. “Any reason why you decided to make my son play delivery boy when you are obviously more than capable of delivering it yourself.”

“Maybe I wanted to to give you two a chance to make up. You can't keep your feud going on forever. Boy like Yixing needs connections, he needs people in his life. He’s got precious few of them as it is.”

“Maybe you should give him a red string then,” Minseok said. He knows it's not his place to question the fate, but he certainly feels for his son. To have to live for so long without one could only be torture.

Jongdae fixes him with a sore look. “That's cute, coming from you.” Then the catlike grin is back. “But all in due time.”

The comment draws Minseok’s full attention from watching the scene outside. Jongdae has never mentioned Yixing’s string before, not even a subtle reference like “it'll happen when it happens.” But before he can dwell on it any longer the air in the room shimmers again.

“Oh good,” says a new voice. “They've met.”

Minseok turns to see Baekhyun there with him and Jongdae on the loft. Two of the three Fates were in his home. If he were a mortal he might be inclined to be a bit afraid of what that might mean. But as a god himself, Minseok didn’t place too much significance on it. At least not until he realizes what Baekhyun has just said.

“What do you mean, ‘good?’ What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry about it, Seokkie.” Baekhyun says as he leans over the railing to get a better look at the three outside. Having finished his bottle, Yixing had turned Kyungsoo around to burp him.

“You can’t just say something like that and expect me not to worry, Baekhyun.”

“And what good will that do? You can’t change it anyway. It’s fate.” says Baekhyun. 

“You of all people should know that,” Jongdae says. His expression is kind, but there’s a hint of reproach in his voice.

Minseok wants to say something back, but finds he doesn’t know what. He’s saved from having to respond by Baekhyun hitting the railing with his hand and bursting out in laughter. Minseok turns to look back at the three boys out on the patio to see what was so funny. Yixing held Kyungsoo up with two hands away from his body, a look of displeasure on his face, while Joonmyun was laughing at him. Kyungsoo, for his part, was smiling, finding amusement over the fact that he had spit up on Yixing.

Baekhyun turned to look back at Minseok and Minseok turned to return his gaze. The fate smiles, one that says he’s knows something Minseok doesn’t. “See you round, Yue Lao,” he says. The use of the title rankled Minseok, something that Baekhyun knew very well. But he shimmers away before Minseok could even begin to form a reply.

There were many gods in the world, each with their own powers and responsibilities. Some, like Changmin, Joonmyun’s father, had a limited scope and mostly kept to their own devices until needed. But others, like Minseok, played a much larger role in the universe. There was no official god who ruler over all of them. Everyone simply did their job, such was the way of the universe.

But if any gods could be said to have more power over the others, it would be the fates. The three of them decided the destinies of everyone. Mortal, god and demigod all fell under their dominion. Jongin, the fate who decided beginnings. Jongdae, the fate who decided who to bind together. And Baekhyun, the fate who decided endings. Whatever they decreed came to pass. Such was the nature of destiny.

Minseok supposes that he should have known it was coming. Baekhyun’s visit had been an omen, and he supposes Jongdae’s work to bring Yixing home could have been an omen too. But he’d ignored the signs and lived on as normal. Until it wasn’t.

-

A month later, Eugene and Tae Young are no more. The day they lay them to rest is cold and gloomy, a steady rhythm of rain falling from the sky as if the heavens were mourning as well. It was an accident, a drunk driver on windy country roads in the dark of night. Whatever the cause, whatever the events that led to their deaths, it’s left Yuezhou without its caretakers. And more importantly, it has left Kyungsoo without his parents.

Standing at their graves, Yixing can’t help but feel like it’s the end of an era. In a way it is. The Ki family has served as caretakers of Yuezhou for generations. Now there’s only Kyungsoo left, the thirteen-month old currently half asleep in his arms, worn out from his crying. He’s too young to understand, but he knows his parents are gone. He cries for them, searches for them when someone walks into the room. It breaks Yixing’s heart that all he can do is offer him is words that everything will be okay. He knows a little bit about having to live on after a parent has died. He’s thankful that Kyungsoo is so young. He won’t remember this pain.

But Yixing will. Yixing will remember it because it makes him feel the same way that he felt when his own mother passed away. He’d thought he’d moved on and healed. But as he watched Eugene and Tae Young’s caskets get lowered into the ground, one after the other, he flashes back to watching his own mother’s burial. It hurts just the same as it did back then. The fates had determined that the threads of their lives were over, and so now they were no more. At least they went together, he thinks. At least they won’t have to live without each other. It’s a small comfort.

Eventually the small crowd thins until only Joonmyun, Kyungsoo, Yixing, and Minseok are left. His father clears his throat to get their attention. “I’d like a moment with Yixing, please,” he says to them.

Joonmyun nods his head and shifts the umbrella to his left hand so he can reach out and take Kyungsoo with him. But Kyungsoo doesn’t want to go, begins to fuss the moment Joonmyun starts to pull him away. Yixing tells him not to worry, he’ll keep the toddler. Joonmyun reluctantly agrees and holds out the umbrella for him to take. It’s a little awkward, Yixing has to adjust his hold on Kyungsoo, but he manages to keep a hold on the boy while holding the umbrella over their head. Then Joonmyun makes a run for the cars parked a little further down the hill.

His father takes his time before bringing up what’s on his mind. Yixing has an idea or two of what it might be but he doesn’t say anything, just waits for his father to start.

“I’ve made arrangements for Siwon and his family to come over from Kumihoma,” he starts.

Yixing nods his head as if his father was asking for his approval. Not that he needed it, but it was a good decision. The Kumihoma estate has been steadily closed in by urbanization. It’s a good a time as any to let it go. But that doesn’t address the more pressing question of what will happen to Kyungsoo.

His father, thankfully, continues, getting around to answering that important question. “Siwon and his wife have two children of their own. They can-”

“No.” He cuts Minseok off before he can even voice the thought out loud. He can’t stand the thought of Kyungsoo being raised by people he doesn’t even know, people who didn’t even know his parents. Granted he can’t profess to knowing Tae Young well and he had been absent from Eugene’s life for the last ten years, but he knows her family, lived with generations of them. He’ll make sure Kyungsoo knows the legacy of the Ki family.

“I’ll take him,” he says. “He deserves better than being raised by strangers. He deserves better than this.” He doesn’t say it out loud, but his meaning is as plain as if he had. It’s a good thing none of the fates had shown up to help mourn Eugene or Tae Young. He’s a little tired of the fates and their strings of life, love, and destiny.

“Yixing,” his father says. He has that tone that he always uses when he thinks Yixing is being impulsive.

But Yixing isn’t going to argue about this. It’s not something up for discussion. “I said I'll raise him. You can go back to playing with your books and your strings.”

With that he turns and walks away to where Joonmyun is waiting in the car. He has a lot to think about, a lot of changes to make. The first of which is that he needs to find a permanent place to live. He can’t drag Kyungsoo all over the world like he’s used to doing. It needs to be a place of his own, not one of his father’s. The further he can take Kyungsoo away from the gods and their games the better. But he’ll deal with that tomorrow. For today, at least, he’ll mourn the cutting short of two threads of life and be happy that they went together, bound together with a red string of fate.

-

“That went well,” Baekhyun says, startling Minseok out of his deep thoughts.

He turns to see all three fates standing next to him on the hilltop. None of them look particularly concerned with the rain despite their lack of umbrellas, content to stand in the rain with their form-fitting black coats. They look like a coordinated set, dressed in a way that’s all matchy without actually wearing the same thing.

“What are you all here?” Minseok says. He can’t help the small bit of fear that creeps into his voice. He also doesn’t like the way that all three of their eyes are watching his son and Kyungsoo walk away.

Baekhyun holds his hands up. “Relax,” he says without taking his eyes away. “We’re not here to cut any threads.”

“And Yixing’s new beginning was tied the moment he first held Kyungsoo.” Jongin says.

Minseok lets out a sigh. “I hope that’s all the string work you three have planned for the moment.”

Jongdae turns to give him a smile that's almost pitying. “You really should skim the books I give you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback and comments always welcome.


End file.
